Too much emphasis on profit doomed Patterson, source says

The 22-month tenure of Steve Patterson, the men’s athletics director at the University of Texas, ended abruptly Tuesday with his dismissal by UT President Gregory L. Fenves. My sportswriting colleagues at the Statesman have the full story.

I asked a well-placed source to boil down the reasons for Patterson’s dismissal. After all, he had brought some needed business acumen to the enterprise, and his hiring of Charlie Strong as football coach and Shaka Smart as basketball coach has been widely praised.

Here’s what the source — who spoke on condition of anonymity because authorization to speak publicly had not been granted — had to say:

“There has been a groundswell of people upset that he seems to be fixated on profit above anything else. Fenves is catching the brunt of an overwhelming number of complaints and concerns. Profit is important, but universities are more than that.”

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